So after years of everyone telling me “It’s really an amazing show,” I finally caught a few episodes of Discovery Channel’s mega-hit Deadliest Catch. And those superfans weren’t lying, Deadliest Catch is a fun way to spend an hour.

It’s not brilliant television, even brilliant documentary television but it sheds some light on an industry and a way of life most people know very little about. The captains and deckhands have compelling family stories and personal lives and it’s great to hear them talk about their work. Between the 800 pound crates they catch the crabs in, the freezing cold conditions and those pesky walls of water, working on a fishing boat looks like the toughest job on earth. Plus all the guys remind me a bit of Yukon Cornelius.

I’m pretty sure I’m the last one on board this boat, but if you haven’t seen Deadliest Catch, pop on over to Discovery sometime and check it out.

I am already knee deep in Christmas movies and since it’s after Thanksgiving I no longer have to hide my enthusiasm. This weekend I watched Elf, The Santa Clause, The Santa Clause 2, This Christmas, White Christmas, the holiday episodes of Monk, Psych, two Christmas eps of Will & Grace and a shitty Lifetime movie called Moonlight & Mistletoe. I am a junkie for anything with sleigh bells, a tree and holiday mishaps. This season couldn’t come soon enough. Want to know when all of your favorites ( and the crappy cheesy movies) will be on? Check out ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas line-up.

Bop: No Award This Week

I have a bookmarks folder labeled “Bop” where I file away links to my nominees for this award every week. For one reason or another, no one rose to the top this time. It’s not every week I feel like making love to my TV set or a cast of characters. Maybe the holiday season got to me…or there just wasn’t any grope-worthy television this week.

Kill: The Folks Pricing DVDs at Fox

24:Redemption is on DVD this week. Not surprising. What is shocking? The sticker price. The two-hour TV movie is retailing for $19.99. Are you kidding me? A full season of 24 retails at around $30 – $40 bucks and you can usually find it on sale for even cheaper. (All six seasons are currently $19.99 each on Amazon right now). So where do the folks at Fox get off selling an 88 minute movie for $20? Ridiculous!

I am coming to you live and direct from the “library” at my parents’ house. It’s basically a room no one goes in where they keep the books they’ve never read. Such is life.

I’m taking a break from dessert chatter to bring you my Black Friday Shopping List for tomorrow. I am a bit disappointed at the selection this year but it’s not going to stop Brother Bear and I from getting up with the chickens for some pretty awesome deals.I won’t be in the market for too much TV on DVD tomorrow. It turns out I already own most of the stuff discount retailers tend to put on sale.I was hoping for 30 Rock season 2, no such luck.

If you’re in the market for seasons of Gilmore Girls, The Office, The Simpsons or House you can pretty much go anywhere tomorrow (Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart) and find them on sale. How I Met Your Mother is also a popular one this year.

Here’s what I’m going after:

TV:

Mad Men Season 1 – $12.99 -Circuit City (Retail Price $48.99)

Weeds Season 3 – $12.99 – Circuit City (Retail Price $39.98)

Movies:

Sex & The City – $8.98 – Target (Retail Price $19.98)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall – $8.98 – Target (Retail Price $19.98)

27 Dresses – $5.98 – Target (Retail Price $19.98)

Mrs. Doubtfire – $3.99 – Target (Retail Price $14.99)

Catch Me If You Can – $2.99 – Circuit City (Retail Price $9.00)

Reno 911: Miami – $3.99 – Circuit City (Retail Price $14.98)

For those of you who hate waking up early many of these deals are also available online. Amazon is having some pretty impressive deals tomorrow and throughout the weekend.

The ladies on How I Met Your Mother are preggers. First Alyson Hannigan got knocked up and now Colbie Smulders is with child. They’re probably not writing either pregnancy into the show which means Robin and Lily will be holding a lot of giant purses this season.

This sketch would’ve made last week’s SNL hilarious…too bad they cut it. I don’t blame them though, I too live in fear of Rahmbo.

It’s a recession era economy and even from her cashmere thrown, Oprah can tell the average American is feeling the pinch right now. With this in mind, Oprah is changing her “Favorite Things” episode a bit this year. Gone is the usual hour-of excess (last year she gave away a fridge/HDTV combo valued at over $3700) and in its place is Oprah is giving away gift-items her viewers can actually afford.

While it makes the program more accessible to the average person, and watching people get stuff for free is half the fun, I’m a little upset about the change. If watching surprised audience members get tons of free stuff is half the fun, isn’t the other half adding up the exorbitant sticker price for all of those items? It’s a cheap thrill to see how the other half lives for an hour. That’s why they call the episode, “Oprah’s Favorite Things” not “Oprah Helps You Find A $20 Gift For Your Grandma.”

Was anyone actually using the Favorite Things episode as a shopping guide in the first place? Yes, a lot of the smaller ticket items (cakes, slippers, etc) sell out immediately, but did anyone take a look at the HDTV-Fridge and think “Well I can scratch Dad off of my shopping list,”?

Cheaper items or no, I will be recording the episode when it airs tomorrow, if for nothing else than the inevitable screaming and hugging that occurs when a couple hundred ladies find out they are the envy of an entire nation.

As many of you know, my brother and I are pretty fanatical Black Friday shoppers. We make sandwiches, we map out routes, we think of exit stratagies. Short of walkie-talkies we take Friday pretty seriously.

Every year I field the question: What are you shopping for? This time, I’ll deliver the goods. Since I’m mostly on the hunt for cheap seasons of TV on DVD, it’s only fitting to share just where the bargains and will be, places to avoid, etc.

Some of the ads are already out (Seriously Kohls? 58 Pages??) but the motherload is due on Thursday so I’ll make up a field guide in between the Parade and sticking my fingers into the sweet potatoes.